It’s 8:30 on a Thursday evening, and dozens of young men are crammed into a classroom, elbowing each other and competing to look at battered old English and math books.

Starkey and Husketh-Tutton keep at least three herding dogs with them on their farms — one older dog, like 10-year-old Grey, to serve as a role model; a dog in its prime, such as Puck, to manage ...